Looking for some fruit and veggie based Christmas recipes for your kids? Here are some of my favourites that I’ve come across – lots of super cute but very simple recipes that you can easily get the kids involved in making! And lots here that don't need any baking or fancy ingredients!! For all the savoury ideas, check out my Roundup here.

SWEET

from The Pancake Party

by Mama Papa Bubba

from One Handed Cooks

by Allergy Awesomeness

Fruity Elf Pancakes by Mama Makes Pancakes

from Super Healthy Kids

by Little Nummies

Watermelon Christmas Trees by Good Food Week

Pancake Candy Canes by The Pancake Party

by Taste Buds Feeding Therapy

All images from the direct source via Instagram or Webpage

Looking for some fruit and veggie based Christmas recipes for your kids? Here are some of my favourites that I’ve come across – lots of super cute but very simple recipes that you can easily get the kids involved in making! And lots here that don't need any baking or fancy ingredients!! For all the sweet ideas, check out my Roundup here.

SAVOURY

Cheese and Carrots Reindeer Snack by Veggies and Virtue

Santa and Snowman Sandwiches from Little Food Junction

Christmas Tree and Candy Cane pizzas by She Knows

Carrot Stars by Healthy Little Foodies

by Veggies and Virtue

Cheesy Broccoli Christmas Shapes by Taste Buds Feeding Therapy

by The Tooth Fairy

Rudolph Bread Roll by The Very Hungry Mummy

Caramelised Onion Pastry Christmas Tree from Baking With Kids

Cheese Christmas Trees from Super Healthy Kids

Elf Pies by Taste Buds Feeding Therapy

Celery Reindeer by The Tooth Fairy

Rudolph Slidersby Lunches and Littles

Christmas Themed Muffin Tin snack tray by Veggies & Virtue

Snack Cups by The Littles and Me

All images from the direct source via Instagram or Webpage

Welcome to my special Christmas-themed series all about Picky Eaters and the dreaded VEGETABLE.

I am a Paediatric Feeding Therapist. As part of my job, I assess and treat children who have extremely restricted diets due to very fussy eating. The cause of the fussiness can be varied, and the kids that I see are on the severe end of the spectrum when it comes to picky eating. But even for children who are just going through a normal picky eating phase (because, in the most part, picky eating is just another developmental stage that many children will go through) there seems to be a common thread between them all. A common dislike of VEGETABLES.

Picky eaters often have very few, sometimes no, vegetables that they will willingly eat. There are MANY reasons for this, and that would take up a whole blog series in itself to fully explore. But regardless of the reason, it’s up to us as the parent to help foster a positive relationship with vegetables because we want our children to eventually like (maybe even love!) eating vegetables as part of eating a variety of foods from all the food groups.

This blog post is about the first in my TOP 3 strategies to help picky eaters learn to love vegetables.

What’s the first strategy? EXPOSURE.

Repeated exposure to foods is essential for us to learn about whether we like them or not. In my Facebook Live broadcast I did during the week I talked about how you might now love an (embarrassing) song that initially you thought was rubbish. Here is another way of thinking about it...

Remember the first time you had a bold red wine? You probably had one tiny sip and thought “Oh GROSS why does everyone rave about this?!” Then, over time, you try it again. And again. And in all different social settings. And you see that your parents like red wine. So does your best friend. And your workmates. And you start to drink Rose. And smooth red wine. And then occasionally bold red wines. And all of a sudden, you don’t hate red wine. You think it’s okay. And then over time, you start to really like red wine, and then before you know it you are craving a big glass of red at the end of the day. We forget what it’s like to learn about new foods – but think back to things like beer, coffee, anchovies, olives, oysters, spirits, kale, pickles, kombucha... there are loads of foods that we eat as adults that we needed to try many times before we decided that we liked them (or hated them!).

Kids are going through this ‘learning to like’ phase at almost every meal. So how can we support their learning AND increase their exposure to vegetables?

Most parents I meet are already offering vegetables at dinnertime and putting it on the table or their child’s plate. This is great, and essential. But most of the parents I meet are also frustrated that despite their diligence, their child is still not eating the vegetables.

Exposure needs to happen in a variety of settings, not just at the dinner table. It’s one of the reasons why your kid might eat vegetables at a party, or with their grandparents, but not at home. New and novel ways of being exposed to foods is really powerful.

One way I LOVE to increase exposure to vegetables is to get kids in the kitchen. In the kitchen a picky eater doesn’t have any pressure to eat it (a win for them! And no battle for you!) AND they tend to interact a lot more with the food than if it was just sitting on their plate. Because of this, they learn about all the different sensory properties of a food before it even hits their plate.

For example, if your child helps you with the broccoli in the following recipe, they will have learnt:

What it feels like raw (when you wash it)What the inside of the broccoli feels like (when you cut it up)What it smells like raw (as you blitz it)What it looks like uncookedWhat it feels like all blitzed up (when you fill the pies)What it smells like as it’s cookingWhat it looks like cooked (when you chop up the bigger pies)

So before they’ve even sat down for dinner, they’ve learnt SEVEN things about broccoli. That’s masses of exposure, and all necessary in learning to like vegetables!

So here’s my recipe for ELF PIES. Have fun making them!

CHRISTMAS ELF PIES

These cheesy, slightly sweet broccoli pies are easy to make and filled with lots of familiar ingredients for many kids (except for the broccoli!). Fun to make, and easy for the kids to be involved with and get their fingers sticky. I’ve called them Elf Pies because of their funny shape and green elf filling, but you could call these Hulk Pies, Shrek Pies, Zombie Pies, Princess Fiona Pies... whatever appeals to your picky eater!

This recipe really taps in to all the different senses too – the smells of the different ingredients, sight as you watch the ingredients get blitzed, touch when you make the pies, and taste (because you gotta sneak some of that grated cheese and lick your sticky honey fingers!). Crispy pastry can also be a great way to make ‘wet’ foods appealing, as lots of the picky eaters that I work with LOVE crunchy or crispy things, especially if they melt in the mouth like pastry does. By pairing up a preferred food with a new (or ‘learning about’) food, you are helping make that new food more appealing and less scary or unknown.

Christmas Elf Pies Recipe

Prep Time: 5 – 10 min plus time to defrost the pastry

Cook Time: 20 – 25 min

Serves: 2 adults + 2 – 3 kids

You will need: large gingerbread man cookie cutter (or other Christmas themed cookie cutters - see notes below), pastry brush, baking paper, food processor, kid-safe knife (like this one), chopping board, a side plate

Ingredients

4 sheets puff pastry

1 medium head of broccoli

2 eggs

¾ cup cashews (OR 1 slice of bread OR ½ cup cooked brown rice)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 Tbspn Dijon mustard

4 Tbspn honey

4 Tbspn mayonnaise

Generous pinch of salt

Sesame seeds

(for egg and dairy free variation, see notes below)

Method

Everybody wash your hands and get ready to cook!Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (350 degrees F), line two baking trays with baking paper. Get out your pastry to defrost.Help your child to wash and dry the broccoli. Break it into florets and then help your child to cut each floret in half, and chuck it in the food processor.Crack the eggs into a little bowl and lightly beat them. Pour MOST of the egg mixture into the food processor and keep a little bit for at the end to baste the pastry. (If you forget this part, don’t panic – just use some milk to baste it at the end instead)Eat a couple of cashews and put the rest into the food processor. (If you are using bread, tear it up first into smallish pieces) Add in the cheese.Help your child add in the mustard, mayonnaise and honey, plus the pinch of salt. Have gentle smells of the different condiments and talk about which ones have really big smells, sweet smells, ‘nothing smells’ and so on.Blitz the ingredients for about 10 seconds, until all well combined and there are no large pieces remaiing.Using the cookie cutter, cut out a gingerbread man and place him on the baking paper. Place spoonfuls of the pie filling mixture on the head and belly. Use your fingers to spread it out a bit.Using the cookie cutter as a template, cut a large outline around the gingerbread man (crime scene style!) so that you end up with a bigger shape. Place that on top to make the pie lid. Use your fingers to crimp down the edges.Little scraps of pastry can be used to make eyes, nose, mouth, buttons etc.Make as many gingerbread man pies as you want, OR use the side plate as a template to cut out circles of pastry – fill one half with filling, fold over to make a semi-circle and crimp the edges. This will make big adult sized pies.Bake in the oven for about 20 – 25min, until crispy golden.Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Notes:

You can make this dairy free – just omit the cheese, it will still taste lovely.

For an egg free version – use 1 flax-egg and add in some extra bread to help bind it all together.

If you don’t have a large gingerbread man cookie cutter, you can just cut out small Christmas shapes from the pastry (stars, trees, boots etc). Make some small circular pies (use a glass or a round cookie cutter) and then place the Christmas pastry shapes on top.

Enjoy with a glass of red wine ;)

This is a really fun way for kids to learn lots about broccoli! Broccoli can have quite a strong smell and taste, and a squishy texture when cooked traditionally (usually steamed or boiled). This recipe is a lovely mild way of eating broccoli, helped by the cheese and the carbohydrate content. The texture is easy to eat, and not wet and squishy like regular broccoli. AND the shapes make them really fun because once they are on your plate you can decorate them with things like tomato sauce (ketchup), mayonnaise, sesame seeds, more cheese – anything that appeals to your picky eater.

Cheesy Broccoli Christmas Shapes

You will need: Medium sized Christmas cookie cutters, Food Processor, chopping board, kid-safe knife, baking paper and tray

Makes: 1 – 2 trays of shapes, depending on how large you make them

Prep time: 10 min (including time to make the shapes with the kids)

Cook time: 10 – 15 min

Ingredients:

½ head of broccoli

1 large egg

½ cup breadcrumbs (for a gluten free version, use 1 cup cooked brown rice)

¾ cup grated cheddar cheese

Pinch of garlic salt

Pinch of salt

Extra cheese, for sprinkling before baking

Method:

Everyone wash your hands! Preheat the oven to 190 degree C (350 F) and line your trays with baking paper.Help your child break the broccoli into florets, and then chop them into halves.Help your child crack the egg into a small bowl. Scoop out bits of shell using a bigger piece of shell.Add the broccoli, egg, breadcrumbs / rice, cheese and salts to the food processor and blitz until the broccoli is finely chopped. The mixture should be wet but not runny – if it’s too runny, add more breadcrumbs or rice and blitz again.Put a range of cookie cutters onto the baking tray. Place a few spoonfuls of broccoli mixture into each one and use your fingertips to spread the mixture out to fill each shape. They don’t need to be too thick.Carefully remove the cookie cutters from the tray and admire your handiwork! Sprinkle extra grated cheese on top.Pop them in the oven and bake for 10 – 15min (depending on the thickness) until lightly golden.Allow to cool slightly before serving.

These freeze well, and also make great nuggets - just shape into balls and bake, or squish small amounts into a well greased muffin tin.

Looking for some ideas for Christmas presents? Here are my top recommendations for the new mum (or mum-to-be), your budding Junior Masterchef, and even your fussy eater!

FOR THE NEW MUM (or Mum-to-be)

Grabease baby cutlery $19.95

Specially created for little infant hands and designed by an Occupational Therapist. These cute little spoons and forks are PERFECT for Baby Led Weaning and babies who are keen to feed themselves.

One Handed Cooks recipe book $29.95

Have you heard of the One Handed Cook? Did you know there is now an amazing recipe book? It’s a really beautiful book, and filled with practical ideas and recipes that take you from first starting solids, through the picky years, and up to family-shareable meals that everyone can enjoy no matter what their age. A must have!

Starting from $120 This is a great gift for mums who are going to be embarking on the journey of starting solids, and a neat Baby Shower gift too! A chance to have any and all questions answered when it comes to starting solids – the when, the how, the what, the how much, and more.

FOR THE BUDDING CHEF

Kiddikutter kid-safe knife$12.95

This knife is an essential to have in the kitchen when you have kids. Safe even for toddlers t use, this knife doesn’t cut fingers and uses a safe ‘sawing’ action to cut through anything from raw carrot to soft tomatoes!

Kids Apron$4.99

This apron from Ikea is TOO CUTE and comes with a chef hat too! And a great stocking stuffer at this price. There’s a smock style as well, and even a Christmassy looking one for $7.99.

Healthy Kids Step-By-Step Cookbook $19.95

There are loads of cookbooks for kids out there on the market. I’ve always loved DK books because of the brilliant photos that they use, and step-by-step photo or picture cookbooks are great because it means that even non-readers can get in on the cooking action.

FOR THE FUSSY ONE

Milton the monster has been created especially to help picky or fussy eaters to try new foods. He comes with a book of ideas and strategies, and he works especially well for kids who are anxious or get distressed with having new foods on their plate. He helps build confidence, reduce tantrums, and gets kids tasting and trying more foods! Plus he’s super cute and dishwasher safe.

You don’t have to buy a Nutribullet to make decent smoothies or juices – I use a Kmart brand one in my therapy sessions and it’s fab! Generally, smoothies and juices are not recommended for kids because they don’t offer the same nutritional value as eating the real thing. BUT – for the really fussy eaters, smoothies and juices are a really great gateway for them to be introduced to fruits and vegetables. The important thing is to get your picky eater to help prepare the ingredients so that they can see what is going in! And if drinks aren't their thing, freeze the liquid to make awesome popsicles and icy poles.

What if Vegetables Were People? Book$25.00

Ahhh picky eaters. They hate vegetables. Actually, lots of kids seem to struggle with making friends with vegetables. This gorgeous book helps kids think of vegetables in a whole new, humorous and appealing way. A great one for the classroom too!

I hope some of these ideas have given you some inspiration! Merry Christmas and happy holiday season to you and your little ones.

Not a sponsored post – I just really like all of these products!

It’s always nice to have something chocolatey to indulge in when you need a bit of a treat. And Brownies tick so many boxes – fudgey, gooey and a big chocolate hit! But lots of Brownie recipes are full of butter, cream, masses of sugar and very little nutritional content. Well, have I got news for you! THIS recipe that I’ve come up with is packed with THREE kinds of veggies, FOUR sources of natural fibre, and over HALF A KILO (almost 1 ½ pounds!) of vegetable goodness in every pan. As an added bonus, it’s egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free and really allergy friendly so perfect for playgroup or the school lunchbox.

And they actually taste GREAT. I kid you not.

They are very simple to make, and a great one for getting kids into the kitchen and handling vegetables. They can help peel, chop and blitz the vegetables, and then get to enjoy the spoils of their hard work with a well deserved treat! This is particularly important for picky and fussy eaters. Picky kids often won't even interact with vegetables - and if we can't get a fussy eater to touch a vegetable, how can we ever expect them to eat it? So this is a fun way to start the journey of learning about (and learning to love) vegetables.

This recipe came about because I wasn’t 100% happy with the standard zucchini brownie recipe that I’d been making. It was too cakey & not fudgey enough, and certainly not chocolatey enough for me! So this recipe is one that I’ve been tweaking and the result is VEGGIE PACKED BROWNIES. Because if we are going to have a treat, let's make it packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre!

Prep Time: 5min

Cook Time: 30-35min

Makes: x1 full Brownie tray, approx 24 little squares

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Chopping boardKid-safe knife (and a knife for yourself to use)Good quality food processor or ThermomixBrownie / slice tray (~28x18cm / ~11x7in), baking paper

INGREDIENTS:

1 large zucchini (~400g / 14oz)

1 carrot (~100g / 3.5oz)

½ sweet potato (~150g / 5oz)

4 medjool dates

½ cup neutral flavoured oil (of choice)

2 tspn vanilla essence

½ - ¾ cup raw sugar (to taste)

2 cups GF self raising flour (or wheat flour if not needing to be gluten free)*

½ cup cocoa powder

Handful dairy free choc chips (optional)

*If you don’t have self raising flour, you can make your own; add 2 cups all purpose flour, along with 3 tspn baking powder & 1 tspn fine salt.

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, fan forced (320F) & line a brownie pan with baking paper.Help your kid to peel the sweet potato and wash the carrot and zucchini (no need to peel carrot or zucchini). Help your child to roughly chop the zucchini, carrot, sweet potato & dates. Put the vegetables & dates into a food processor & blitz for about 30 seconds or until smooth/ no lumps.Add the oil, sugar & vanilla and blitz again until combined.Add flour & cocoa and blitz again for about 30 - 60 seconds until smooth and well combined into a thick batter.Pour into your lined tray & stir through choc chips (if using).Bake for 30-35min (a toothpick in the middle should come out sticky / not entirely clean).If you can - allow to cool & then serve. But you know the rule with brownies! Eat straight from the pan, while still gooey and hot!!

Makes about 24 little squares. Once cooled, keep in an airtight container and room temperature for about 4-5 days (if it lasts that long!). Suitable for freezing.

I ask you to put your skepticism aside and give this recipe a go! It’s brilliantly gooey, fudgy, has a great hit of chocolate and is actually quite sweet. Let me know what you and your little ones think of it!

Why do picky eaters hate dinner time?

It’s one of the most common comments I hear as a Feeding Therapist.

“My child won’t eat anything at dinner time. It’s always a battle to make him eat anything”

“She just refuses to eat anything at dinner time except plain pasta. It doesn’t matter what I put in front of her, she just says NO”

“He just gets up and walks away. If I try and make him stay, he cries or has a tantrum”

What is it about dinner time that toddlers find so hard? Why do picky eaters seem to be at their MOST picky and fussy at dinner?

To understand why our kids are finding dinner time hard work, let’s look at some of the factors that come into play that are unique to dinner. Once you can work out why your toddler is finding dinner time hard, then it’s easier to come up with strategies that will help your child (and you, and the rest of the family) to enjoy dinner time more.

Here are my TOP FOUR reasons why picky eaters hate dinner (there are loads of reasons that can contribute, these are just my top 4).

1. They are tired. So tired.

By the end of the day, everyone is tired and often our patience has worn thin. It’s also time for our sensory system and body to reboot and rest.

Have you ever stayed awake for more than 24 hours? What about 2 days? What about FIVE DAYS? When an adult is ready for dinner, we have been awake for about 12 hours. In the scheme of our life (let’s say, 35 years), that means we’ve been awake for about 0.004% of our life. Nothing really. Well, in the scheme of a 3 year olds life, by the time it’s dinnertime, it’s the adult equivalent of if we had been awake for OVER FIVE DAYS. So it’s no wonder they are a little grouchy and irrational and not in the mood to try broccoli.

2.We expect them to eat new things.

Usually, picky eaters get given new foods to try at dinner time. A bit of the family meal, some new vegetables, a bowl of soup. It makes sense on a practical level – dinner is pretty varied from day to day so it’s easy to just give them a bit of whatever is being made for dinner. Generally, the other meals of the day that little kids eat are pretty predictable and don’t vary all that much. As adults, we seek out more variety with our meals, especially dinner.

We have the luxury of thinking about what WE would like to eat, and over the years we learn how to cook dishes to suit our tastes. We buy the ingredients, we know what they all taste like, we know we enjoy them. BUT the food at dinner time is unpredictable for a toddler, and they don’t have any control over what is served. Toddlers crave predictability, repetition, and they love feeling like they are in control. Add in to this that the food being served is usually a sensory challenge (green stuff! Squishy stuff! Wet slop! Strong smells!) and they are SO TIRED and it can be a recipe for dinner time disaster.

3. They aren’t hungry.

Adults generally look forward to eating dinner. Often, if we are chasing after kids or at work, we don’t necessarily sit down for snacks and a proper lunch. Kids have often eaten four meals (breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea) by the time dinner comes. Particularly if they have been at school or daycare and have eaten a decent sized lunch.

Many cultures don’t eat a big dinner right before bed, but our Western culture we do. But perhaps our kids are tuning in to their bodies and their hunger cycles a bit better than we do! For many children, dinner time is not their big meal of the day and this is ok (and you might notice they eat a huge breakfast instead).

4. Dinner time has become associated with misery.

So many parents of picky eaters will say to me that they dread dinner time, and with good reason. They know that there will be battles, maybe tears, probably a tantrum, food refusal, and all those frustrating behaviours like throwing food or getting up and leaving the table. My question then is always – if you are dreading dinner time, how do you think your child is feeling? Do you think they are looking forward to it too? Often when tackling picky eating, I recommend a shake-up of the dinner time routine. It’s helpful for everyone to get out of the rut and break those learnt negative feelings about sitting at the dinner table. Keep in mind though, that it will take some time for your child to trust and enjoy in any new dinner time routines because they don’t understand straight away that the expectations have shifted.

There are obviously many more contributing factors to dinner time battles – these are just my top four most common. Which factor do you think is affecting your child at dinner time? Are they tired? Seeking control? Just not hungry? Or do they simply dread the dinner table and everything that comes with that daily battle? I’d love to know what your experiences of the dinner table are!

Holly is a qualified paediatric Speech Pathologist who specialises in Feeding Therapy. She has worked with hundreds of children over her career to help them learn how to eat, drink and enjoy their mealtimes. For more information about Holly and the services she offers, visit www.taste-buds.com.au

Images sourced from Pexel.

Today I am reviewing the popular Wow 360 Kids Cup. I’m doing these reviews so that you can feel better informed about whether or not you want to spend money (and precious cupboard space) on all the various cups, plates, bowls, bottlers, cutlery and more that is out there marketed as being “the best for your baby or child”. I’m not reviewing the aesthetics or form necessarily – I’m interested in the function. In particular, how it can help (or hinder) your child’s developing of eating and drinking skills (called oral motor development).

Product Type: 360-degree edge spoutless sipper cup

Product Claims: Uni-flow drinking edge, Spill free, No spouts or levers or buttons, Comfortable lip edge

Cost: Around $13 - $15

Where I Bought This: Woolworths

Age/Stage: 12+ months (although according to their website, children ‘of all ages’ love the WOW cup)

Hacks Recommended? Not very hack-able

The WOW cup is much loved by many mums out there. It’s relatively new on the market and promises a unique cup design that isn’t quite like anything else there. It’s very similar in appearance to the Philips Avent Grown Up Cup except that there is one main difference – the way it flows.

The way this cup works is that it has a seal all around the edge of the cup between the lid and the cup itself. This seal works like a one-way valve, and the way that it allows the drink to come out is by biting and sucking (at the same time) anywhere on the edge of the cup. The WOW website has some pretty big claims – it’s spill free, you don’t need any levers or buttons to drink from it (um.... what??), and it’s good for oral motor development.

Now, I’m going to pull them up on that last claim. What science have they got to back this claim up? Since when is biting and sucking to get liquid out of a sealed cup ‘good for oral motor development’? If anything, this action is very similar to using a traditional valved sippy cup, which we are realising these days is decidedly not good for oral motor development. Applying jaw pressure to bite, whilst sucking at the same time, is not a natural oral motor movement and not necessary for learning how to drink from an open cup or a straw (the two main ways we want kids to learn how to drink). The only advantage I can see to the WOW cup over a traditional sippy cup is that this cup does not encourage tongue thrust or tongue protrusion (because it’s awkward to bite down while your tongue is pushed over your lower teeth). But you still need to suck on this cup. Which I’m not a fan of.

The Good:

it doesn’t leakit encourages the child to tip upwards like an open cupit restricts the flow so your kid doesn’t dump a cup of water on themselvesit’s quite easy to clean

The Bad:

you can’t easily see how much liquid is in the cup / how full it is (unless you buy their ‘juicy’ version made for juice... grrrrrr don’t get me started on all the things wrong with that!)the child can’t practice getting a bigger mouthful from tipping the cup up more, so it’s teaching them nothing about the physics of how cups workit’s not free flowing

The Ugly:

It encourages an unnatural bite & suck motion

The cup is not terrible for your child, but it’s certainly not as wonderful as the packaging claims it to be. It’s a good alternative for a traditional sippy cup. BUT if your child is ready for an open cup then an even better alternative would be an actual open cup (just take a small bottle of water with you when you’re out and about) or a free-flowing 360-degree cup (which isn’t completely spill proof but is better for oral motor development).

Verdict: Not as great as it claims to be, but not the worst thing ever either. 6/10

Welcome to the first instalment of my new blog series – ‘Get or Forget?’ – where I will be reviewing various baby feeding products to help you decide whether you should get it, or forget it.

There are SO MANY different feeding products out there, and they seem to be constantly changing. Just when you think you’ve found a winner, it gets discontinued and then replaced with some new “must have” product that claims to be even better than the last. What annoys me is that often the packaging makes all these claims about what the product can do (no spill, leak proof, good for development, active drinking, no mess, built in valve, etc etc) but are any of these things actually any good for your baby or child?

So I am going to review products on the market to help you decide whether you should spend your precious dosh or not. As a Speech Pathologist who specialises in paediatric feeding problems, I am hard to please with many cups, bottles, cutlery and so on. I have high expectations and high standards when it comes to helping develop our babies and toddlers oral motor skills, so I won’t be easy to please!

First product in the firing line: the Nuby Flip-It Straw Cup (320mL)

Product Type: Straw Cup, with flip-top lid

Product Claims: Touch Flow Valve. No Leaks! No Mess! Active sipping on the go. BPA free.

Cost: Less than $5

Where I Bought This: the Reject Shop

Age/Stage: ‘Stage 3’ according to Nuby

Hacks Recommended? Yes (read on)

Straw cups are gaining popularity these days for older babies and toddlers. As the word spreads about sippy cups being potentially dodgy for your child’s oral motor development, there has been a noticeable move away from sippy cups in the market towards straw cups (and those 360 cups).

Straw cups that have a flip top lid are really handy when you have to head out and about. And I am always on the lookout for a free-flowing straw cup with a flip-top lid. Surprisingly, they are really hard to find. Free-flowing is the way to go, in my opinion, because it allows the child to control the flow, they can drink more in one sitting, and it doesn’t encourage the maladaptive bite-and-suck motion that many valved straws require. So when I stumbled across this one at The Reject Shop for around $3 I thought I’d give it a go.

Now, when I bought it, I didn’t read the label closely. It appeared to be a free-flowing straw cup BUT THEN, in small writing on the packaging, it proudly stated that it has a ‘Touch-Flow Valve’. What even is that?! Turns out, it has a valve under the lid to stop the drink from freely flowing through the straw. Boooooo. I guess that’s why it’s leak proof. But it’s okay, it is an easy hack to do to make it free-flowing.

All you need to do is take the lid off, find the little rubbery bobble that is sitting off to the side (over a round air vent) and pull it away gently (see the video over on Instagram). It should pop off the air vent and then rest on top. Voila! The cup is now free flowing. It is not 100% leak proof anymore once you do this, but it’s not bad.

Verdict:Great price, easy hack, shame about the valve, 8/10

Have you got a product you would like reviewed? Please get in touch or leave a comment to let me know!

Ok, I have something this week to make up for the last Monday Bites review of those awful “sweet potato crisps” that were anything but edible. This week, I have steered clear of the baby aisle and have found something else for you to try. I stumbled across the Peckish Brown Rice Crackers a few weeks back, and just had to review them!

Recommended age: no age given

Age you could probably give these: 10+mo for a baby with a few teeth, otherwise for late teethers wait til 12+mo

Shape: round

Size: standard cracker size

Texture: Crunch & dissolve

Rice crackers are one of the trickiest textures for small children to eat from an oral motor development perspective. They require a hard bite, and sustained hard chewing, and they shatter in the mouth so they need lots of good tongue control and movement. And they get stuck in your teeth!

Despite all of this, rice crackers are much loved as an easy snack. The Peckish range of rice crackers are a really different texture from the traditional rice crackers. They are processed differently so they end up being a much softer bite, and don’t shatter as much. But they are still a little tricky.

BUT then I found these brown rice crackers! I have no idea why, but they melt in the mouth much more readily than white rice crackers (can anyone tell me why? I’d love to know!). So there is an initial soft crunch, and they need a little bit of chewing, but saliva helps break it down to be soft quite quickly, and this means they are PERFECT for little mouths learning to bite and chew!

Think of them as a step up in trickiness from a soft cracker like the Ritz or Cruskit.

AND these are not salted like most rice crackers so they are a much healthier option for your baby! And they are tasty. Win, win, win.

(and remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat)

Children need a fair amount of iron in their diet, but this can be really hard to achieve if you have a picky or fussy eater. It’s often one of the things that parents worry is missing from their picky eater’s diet.

This recipe is one that I use in my therapy sessions with kids who are very fussy. It’s one that I like to make with kids because:

It’s really easy and fun for them to help makeIt gives a great sensory experience (a sensory challenge for some!), because you get to bang with a hammer, touch gooey ingredients, and roll out the sticky mixture with your handsThe ingredients are generally familiar foods for fussy kids, it’s just that they happen to be all mixed together (great exposure for kids who aren’t into mixed textures)They are tasty

You might be surprised about the iron bit. There is iron from a few sources; the peanut butter, the iron-fortified cereal, the apricots AND the sunflower seeds! And the bonus of the apricots is that there is some Vitamin C in them, so that will help with absorption of the iron.

Almost sounds too good to be true! But here it is, my recipe for iron-rich PB Bites. And I take no responsibility if you end up eating them all yourself :D

PB Bites

Ingredients:

1 cup Cheerios

½ cup chopped dried apricots

¼ cup Peanut Butter

1/8 – 1/4 cup honey

¼ - ½ cup sunflower seeds

Chocolate Sprinkles (I like the dark Dutch Hagelslag ones, from the international section of the supermarket, they also happen to be dairy free)

You’ll also need;

- a tea-towel

- a snaplock bag

- a mallet or rolling pin

And some wet flannels nearby for kids (and grown-ups!) who might find they need to wipe their sticky hands as they go.

Method:

Put the Cheerios into the snaplock bag, squeeze out the air and seal it up. Fold the tea-towel in half and place the bag of Cheerios inside. Using the mallet, bash the bag until the Cheerios are broken up.Tip the smashed up Cheerios into a bowl, and add the peanut butter, honey, apricots and sunflower seeds. Use fingers to scrape the sticky ingredients into the bowl – it’s all extra sensory engagement! Mix it all together with a big spoon.Take small (approx 1 tspn) amounts at a time, and roll them into balls using the palms of your hands. If your child is too young to be able to roll, they can just squish them into little lumps.Pour the sprinkles into a small dish, and plop the balls/lumps into the sprinkles and cover.Eat them straight away or put them onto a plate to be eaten later! They keep well at room temperature for a few days.

You can also easily make this as a half batch if you aren’t sure if your child will like them.

Have you seen some of my other recipes that are easy for kids to help out in the kitchen with? Scrappy Apple Muffins, Chocolate Pantry Cake, Home-made Muesli Bars, and my famous 3-Ingredient Fish Fingers!

This article was originally published here: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/baby/health-professionals-concerned-about-overtreatment-of-ties/however, due to some readers reluctance to visit the Bellybelly website I have copied the article here for accessibility reasons.

Health Professionals Concerned About Over-Treatment Of Ties

By Renee Kam IBCLC. Last updated on August 8, 2017

If you’re a new parent who spends time in breastfeeding Facebook groups, no doubt you’ve come across the topic of ties.

Perhaps you may be experiencing breastfeeding challenges and asked such groups for some help.

Subsequently, perhaps it has been suggested your baby might have ties, and you should see someone who is ‘tie-savvy’ from the group’s provider list.

But, there is a problem which is dividing professionals and parents alike.

When it comes to tie releases, Dr. David McIntosh, a paediatric ENT surgeon, believes that too many inappropriate ones and not enough appropriate ones are being done.

So, what now?

‘Ties’ is a collective term used to describe tongue-ties, upper lip-ties and buccal ties. All of these relate to connective tissue restricting movement in the mouth and causing a functional problem.

Definitions of tongue-tie vary, but it’s generally agreed a tongue-tie exists when the lingual frenulum (connective tissue under the tongue) restricts tongue movement in a way that negatively affects function.

Upper lips-ties occur when the frenulum, underneath the upper lip, known as the labial frenulum, is deemed to cause a functional problem.

Buccal ties occur when frenula underneath the cheek are deemed to cause a functional problem.

The prevalence of tongue-tie appears to fall between 4 to 10%, with inconsistency in diagnostic criteria likely contributing to variation in estimates.

Broadly and simply speaking, some tongue-ties can be obvious – where the frenulum attaches close to the tip of the tongue and these may be referred to as ‘classic’ or ‘anterior’ tongue-ties.

Other possible tongue-ties are less obvious and may be referred to as ‘posterior’ tongue-ties.

Few would argue against there being genuine indications for releasing a tongue-tie. When a tongue-tie is causing a functional problem, releasing it can help improve function. A tongue-tie release is a surgical procedure performed either by scissors or laser.

But, are too many supposed tongue-ties and other ties being released?

There are many health professionals who are concerned too many ties are being released by some professionals, hence too many unnecessary surgical procedures are being performed on babies.

Karen Palmer, a neonatal nurse (10 years), midwife (22 years) and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) (23 years) indicates she “fought hard 10 years ago to get simple tongue-ties simply cut, to allow more effective, pain free feeding where necessary.”

She adds, “A few years back we had never heard of these things and other ways were found to manage breastfeeding issues and support mothers. Now, surgery has become the default position. The wide variation of IBCLC practise with no discernible improvement in breastfeeding rates tells a story.”

Heather Harris, midwife (46 years) and IBCLC (25 years) is also concerned tongue-ties, upper lip-ties and buccal ties “appear to have become a mainstream intervention for any breastfeeding or perceived breastfeeding problem.” She feels “Surgical intervention seems to be the first ‘go to’ option whenever there is a breastfeeding issue.”

Anne Cullen, is another IBCLC who is concerned about the number of ties being released. She says “I have huge concerns that there are some professionals that release far too many tongues. The increase I have seen in lip and buccal releases over the past two years has me very worried.”

Holly Tickner, a speech pathologist who has specialised in the area of paediatric feeding difficulties for over a decade, feels “the pendulum has swung too far in each direction. Probably fifteen or twenty years ago tongue-ties were being missed and not being diagnosed. The science behind breastfeeding and tongue-tie has come a long way in recent years and we know a lot more about it now than back then. But at the moment the pendulum is swinging a little too far to the other end.”

Holly is concerned about “the current trend of having surgery for oral ties without a functional assessment first. A functional assessment takes into account what the tongue and mouth look like, as well as how they work.”

In Holly’s opinion, it’s not enough “to just have a physical examination of the mouth.” Holly is meeting “far too many older babies and children who have had oral surgery done first before trying anything else, and often the parent has been led to believe that it will provide a quick fix, and instead the parents have seen no changes (or worse yet, the surgery has caused new problems).”

There is also a concern some parents are obtaining inaccurate information related to ties from tongue-tie and breastfeeding peer support Facebook groups.

The Research On Breastfeeding And Ties

A tongue-tie can negatively affect breastfeeding. For example, a tongue-tie might reduce how well a baby can remove milk from the breast and it might increase the risk of nipple pain and damage.

The latest systematic review on the topic of tongue-tie and breastfeeding concluded:

“Frenotomy [name of surgical procedure to release a tongue-tie] reduced breastfeeding mothers’ nipple pain in the short term. Investigators did not find a consistent positive effect on infant breastfeeding. Researchers reported no serious complications, but the total number of infants studied was small. The small number of trials along with methodological shortcomings limits the certainty of these findings. Further randomised controlled trials of high methodological quality are necessary to determine the effects of frenotomy.”

There have been no systematic reviews undertaken about any possible effect upper lip-ties or buccal ties might have on breastfeeding due to significant lack of evidence.

There is negligible evidence with regards to breastfeeding and upper lip-tie, and zero evidence with regards to breastfeeding and buccal ties.

Karen thinks anterior tongue-ties “can negatively impact breastfeeding and the effects can be seen in the early days and weeks.” However, she feels “posterior tongue-tie diagnosis can be subjective.” In Karen’s opinion, upper lip or buccal ties don’t impact breastfeeding at all.

Similarly, Heather believes “anterior tongue-ties can (but not always) impact negatively on breastfeeding as the tethered tongue may not be able to draw the breast far enough into the mouth to effectively extract milk resulting in poor milk transfer and potential nipple trauma.”

However, Heather feels the ‘upper lip frenulum is a normal part of infant oral anatomy and should never be interfered with at this age – if ever.”

She continues “The belief that the top lip needs to be flanged to enable a good latch is erroneous and demonstrates a poor understanding of normal breastfeeding attachment.” Furthermore she believes that buccal ties have nothing to do with breastfeeding.

Anne says she has “personally never seen a lip tie or buccal tie that needs releasing due to a breastfeeding problem”.

What Should You Do If You Believe Ties Are Affecting Breastfeeding?

If parents are concerned about whether ties may be affecting breastfeeding, Karen suggests they contact their primary practitioner first (nurse, midwife or GP) for a holistic assessment of their baby.

From there, Karen suggests a referral to an IBCLC for further assessment if necessary. She feels “IBCLCs definitely need to be part of that team to sit and observe a feed first and foremost, but other factors from pregnancy, birth and the neonatal time need to be taken into account.”

Karen indicates she is “always aware that many medical issues present first as feeding problems so therefore a thorough assessment is required before a specific road is gone down.”

If Heather feels a tongue-tie is interfering with breastfeeding, she feels the most appropriate line of referral is to a medical practitioner who has extensive experience in assessment of and safe division of anterior tongue-ties.

She adds she “would never refer to a dentist or speech pathologist or ‘body worker’ for such an issue at this early age.” She adds that with regards to upper lip-ties there’s “no such thing so would never refer anywhere, same with buccal ties.”

If a parent is concerned their baby has a tie, Anne suggests “Mothers should always consult an IBCLC first to work on latching and positioning.”

In terms of diagnosing ties, Anne says she prefers “a team approach – I’d like to see a certified lactation consultant working in conjunction an ENT or other paediatric medical specialist.”

She thinks “any feeding problem needs to be looked at holistically so that we can identify the root of the feeding problem. Feeding problems can even be related to a mother’s state of wellbeing and the support around her, they are often not problem that can just be solved with a ‘quick fix’ tie release.”

Heather, Karen and Anne all agree that if a tongue-tie isn’t obviously contributing to any current functional problem, it shouldn’t be released pre-emptively.

Karen says “A baby has a lot of growing and developing to happen first. There is no harm in a ‘wait and see’ approach.” Likewise, Heather says “If there are no obvious problems I can see no advantage in a surgical intervention. Ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Anne says “There is never any justification for performing a preventative release on a baby.”

There are other ways tongue-ties may impact function too.

Treatment Of Tongue-tie For Reasons Other Than Breastfeeding

Treatment of ties for reasons other than breastfeeding currently lacks evidence.

Speech Problems And Eating Solids

Holly highlights that not all tongue-ties cause speech problems. “It’s important to make a point of saying that tongue ties do not necessarily cause speech issues. You can actually achieve clear speech without needing a huge range of tongue movement, and we are very good at compensating (even if the tip of the tongue is quite restricted)” says Holly.

She goes on to say “It is actually quite uncommon for speech pathologists to come across speech impairment that is a result purely of tongue-tie.”

When it comes to ties and eating solids, Holly indicates “having a tongue-tie does not necessarily mean you will have problems with eating or learning to eat. Many children have trouble learning to eat and they have no oral ties at all.”

Holly also recommends “seeing a paediatric ENT because sometimes there are actually other physiological things going on in the child’s mouth that need dealing with first (and the tongue-tie is a bit of a red herring).”

If a child is experiencing no current speech or eating problem attributed to ties, Holly doesn’t think ties should be released pre-emptively. Holly says “There also appears to be a trend to have oral ties surgically treated ‘just in case’ it causes speech problems – it is unethical for a health professional to recommend this.”

Orthodontic Problems

With regards to orthodontic issues and tongue-tie, again there have been some associations drawn from the research but insufficient evidence to draw clear conclusions.

According to Dr McIntosh, it’s possible that a tongue-tie might contribute to a “narrow maxilla and protruded mandible.”

In simpler terms, this means a narrow top jaw bone and a protruded lower jaw bone and hence possible orthodontic problems.

Again, if these things were to occur, they would take years to manifest. Again, given the current evidence, they wouldn’t be a reason to justify releasing a tongue-tie in infancy purely on the grounds to possibly help prevent orthodontic issues later on.

If a parent is worried about how ties may impact orthodontic issues in their child, Dr McIntosh recommends parents seek advice from a dentist and paediatric ENT surgeon.

Angus Cameron, Associate Professor of Dentistry in Australia, indicates on his website “Releasing an upper labial frenum is a traumatic procedure that may also lead to more dental problems later including the persistence of an anterior diastema (gap between the front teeth) that is difficult to close orthodontically.”

If ties are released, some providers insist on performing stretches on the wound that results. But are these stretches actually necessary?

Wound Stretches After Tie Release May Not Be Necessary Or Appropriate

The idea behind stretching the wound after a tie release is to help prevent reattachment.

However, there is no evidence such stretches actually provide any benefit at all.

Dr McIntosh indicates such stretches “just hurt for no proven benefit.” Alternatively, he just gets “the babies breastfeeding as that’s what we are doing it for and otherwise get the kids to do some simple exercises to maintain range of motion, especially elevation.”

Holly thinks wound stretching has appeared to coincide “with the introduction of laser surgery for oral ties.” Holly has worked with many babies and children who have had oral surgery (not just for tongue-tie) and indicates “wound stretching is not something that is typically done.”

Sadly, Holly has had “babies (and their distraught mothers) come to see me with severe oral aversion after having repeated ‘wound stretches’ done to their mouths after tongue tie surgery. Oral aversion is a very serious condition for a baby to experience as it affects their hydration, nutrition, growth and stress responses (and it’s very slow and tricky to fix).”

—

There certainly is a lot of confusion, speculation and conjecture surrounding the topic of ties. This can make it very difficult for parents who are concerned about their baby possibly having a tie to try to navigate through things and make sense of it all.

The truth is we don’t fully understand the topic of ties and more quality research is needed but this only comes with time.

If you’re worried your child may have a tie, it’s best to seek advice from the appropriate health professional (e.g. lactation consultant for breastfeeding issues, speech pathologist for speech issues, specialist paediatric dentist for dental issues, ENT surgeon for breathing issues etc).

Ultimately, if you’re having problems with breastfeeding, please do seek help from a qualified lactation consultant. Get second or third opinions if you need or want to. Just don’t suffer in silence.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been reviewing baby and toddler finger foods that are just ‘normal’ everyday foods. Baked beans, Gingernut Biscuits, grapes, watermelon and foods that you can find in the supermarket that aren’t in the baby food section. This week I’m heading back to the baby aisle and reviewing the Um Sweet Potato Veggie Crisps. They sound delicious, but I’ve had a dodgy run-in with Um before (remember the Crispy Chewy Banana Fish? Those little fish still haunt my dreams) so I was holding my breath...

Recommended age: 12+ months

Age you could probably give these: 12+ months if your baby has several teeth, I’d wait longer if you have a late teether

Shape: shards with sharp corners, mixed in with small circles

Size: about the size of your thumb

Texture: I’ve been trying to come up with a category for this one... crunch & grainy scatter?

You guys, I was really hoping for these little crisps to be awesome. I love crisps and lately have been addicted to various forms of vegetable crisps, especially sweet potato. But the adult varieties are really salty (which, of course, is why they’re delicious). So I was excited to see these on the shelf because they appear to be a great treat for little mouths!

But, alas, they are weird. And at first, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. They are hard little chips but they aren’t particularly ‘crispy’. They need quite a hard bite (which is great for kids who like a hard crunch to their food) but then they turn to a weird consistency in the mouth. The chip shatters and scatters and then softens into tiny greasy particles.

I was really confused when I first tried these. What was happening? It was a texture I was unfamiliar with. Not quite melt-in-the-mouth, not quite bite-and-crunch (like a rice cracker). I don’t think they would be safe for babies or toddlers who are late teethers. And I was suspicious – their appearance was nothing like the vegetable crisps I’d been eating (which usually resembled the vegetable to some degree). These crisps are pale yellow, and look... highly processed.

So I looked at the ingredients. “Nothing artificial”, “no added salt”... and only two ingredients! Sweet potato and rice bran oil. Oh wait, except that 20% OF THE CRISPS IS OIL.

These are actually higher in fat, and lower in fibre, than the adult varieties of vegetable crisps. They are lower in salt, it’s true. But the trade-off with the oil and high level of processing is really off-putting. As is the texture.

And I worked out the cost per chip. It’s 12 cents per chip. Yep, I got 13 tiny shards of chips in one packet.

I’m sure there’ll be kids out there that will like them. But for me, I’m going to give them a miss.

Rating: Sorry Um. Zero stars.

(and remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat)

Every Monday I review a food that could be a potential finger food for your baby or toddler, particularly if you are doing Baby Led Weaning with your child. There are lots of targeted products out there for little ones, and it can be easy to just buy those products and get stuck in a rut. But there are LOADS of other options out there for finger foods. Over the last month I’ve been reviewing regular foods that would normally be considered food for adults or older kids (including Ginger Nuts, Popcorn, Breadsticks and Baked Beans).

On the menu today for review are Ritz crackers. Crackers can be really tricky for little mouths to chew – do Ritz fall into this category? The ‘too tricky’ basket?

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 8 - 9+ mo

Shape: round

Size: regular cracker size

Texture: crunch then melt-in-the-mouth

A lot of the baby finger foods that you can buy are melt-in-the-mouth in texture (if you’ve never eaten them – think of how a prawn cracker just dissolves in your mouth once it hits your saliva). I call them ‘baby puffs’. Little puffs of air in various shapes that rapidly dissolve in the mouth. The baby food companies will tell you they’ve picked this texture is because it helps oral motor development. But my guess is that it’s also because it’s low risk as a choking hazard, they are a bit addictive (even as adults we love Twisties, Cheezels, Burger Rings...) and you can charge a fortune for what is, essentially, processed air.

Baby puffs have their place in oral motor development, for sure. But their need is short lived. Because they melt away so quickly, they don’t require any chewing.

So it’s important to offer your baby finger foods that don’t melt in the mouth quite so rapidly. That way, your baby can practice biting and chewing (the two key oral motor skills for learning to eat) but still have the safety of their saliva to make the food soft and easy to swallow (in case they can’t chew it up completely).

Enter: Ritz! Ritz fulfills this criteria really well. They require an initial bite, and they needs some rough attempts at chewing, but they do go soft and they are then easy to swallow. Sometimes Ritz can be even a bit better than Cruskits, because if you put a spread onto Ritz (like cream cheese, peanut butter or avocado) they won’t go all soggy and weirdly chewy like Cruskits do.

So give them a go! They are handled best if your baby has some teeth, but even determined gummy babies can have a go at these ones pretty early on.

And remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat.

Anyone who has ever had a fruit bowl and a toddler in the same room at the same time will be familiar with this sight...

... yep, the ol' "I really need to eat an apple right now but oh wait actually I only wanted a bite or two so I'll leave it here for later until the next time I want an apple but then I want a new one not this old half eaten one" power-toddler move.

Rather than throwing out all the half eaten apples, here's my frugal way to use up all those left over scrappy bits of apple. Also a great recipe for using up any old, sad looking apples at the bottom of the fruit bowl.

The muffins are a lovely soft texture (perfect as a finger food and for Baby Led Weaning) and the large amount of apple and the added dried fruit give these muffins a goof burst of fibre for your picky or fussy eater who might not like to eat fruit whole. The muffins also lend themselves to being made gluten-free really easily, and they are also dairy-free and nut-free too! A good option for school lunchboxes or an allergy friendly snack.

We love these muffins in our house! Very easy to make (just chuck it all in a bowl and mix!) so they're a great one to get the kids helping out with in the kitchen. Enjoy!

Scrappy Apple Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups Self-Raising Flour*

½ cup rolled oats*

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ cup brown sugar (lightly packed)

1 cup milk / milk alternative (for dairy-free)

1/3 cup lightly flavoured oil

1 egg

½ cup sultanas or cranberries (or dried fruit of choice)

2 large apples (or 4 half-eaten apples), peeled & grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C (fan forced) and line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Grate the apple into a large mixing bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together until combined.

Fill the cases, and cook for 18 – 20min. Try and wait til they’ve cooled before tucking in!

*Replace the flour with GF Self-Raising Flour and omit the oats for a gluten free version

Over the last month or so, I have been reviewing foods that are great for babies and toddlers to eat, but are NOT found in the babyfood aisle of the supermarket. It’s easy to get sucked into the slick marketing of all the pretty packaging with the ages written on them... but I’m here to help you find other options (because, let’s face it, those little puff things are expensive and not that filling!). Make sure you check out the other Monday Bites reviews to see some of the other alternatives to baby puffs!

Today I’ve picked Grissini sticks to review. These are Italian breadsticks and probably the healthier of the breadsticks out there as they aren’t heavy on salt and flavourings. But don’t let their boring facade put you off! They are a gem of a finger food for babies.

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 9+ mo

Shape: stick shaped

Size: really long!

Texture: crunch then melt-in-the-mouth

Breadsticks have a bit of a daggy reputation. I mean, bless it’s cotton socks but just look at the packaging. We associate them with a bygone era, with lovable but naff Italian restaurants, and dinner parties that our folks had when we were kids.

But they actually make a really great finger food for babies, especially those who are at the stage of learning to bite and chew.

Not all breadsticks are the same texture. Some are actually really crunchy, and do not melt-in-the-mouth or dissolve with saliva. Avoid those ones for your bub (they're fine for toddlers but generally too tricky for babies). What you want to look for are the old-school Italian Grissini (like the ones pictured) because they have an initial hard crunch, and then they dissolve into a much softer consistency that can be swallowed with only rough chewing.

This means that they are great for kids learning to bite, because they require some jaw pressure to break through. And then once they’ve bitten through, they are great for learning to chew, because melt-in-the-mouth textures are quite easy for early chewing skills. And they are stick shaped! Which every Feeding Therapist loves, because this also helps with biting and chewing development.

They are easiest to eat if your little one has a couple of teeth, but even before teeth age, they can be used a bit like a teething rusk (just keep an eye on bub because they do break off in pieces more than a rusk would).

So next mealtime, put down a red and white check tablecloth, put a cup of Grissini onto the dinner table and all share together! Buon appetito!

And remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat.

This month I am reviewing foods that are not targeted at babies and children specifically. I’m also trying to steer clear of the melt-in-the-mouth finger foods that seem to be prolific everywhere (especially in the baby food aisle and the confectionary/crisps aisle!). So far I’ve reviewed Arnott’s Ginger Nut biscuits, and Cobs Popcorn, and today I’ve picked a much healthier food to review. Heinz Baked Beans! They look like they would be a choking hazard - but are they?

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 9+ mo

Shape: small bean

Size: small bean

Texture: soft chew

Baked beans. They seem to polarise people – you either love them or loathe them! They are astoundingly good for you (if you’d like to read a nutritional review of the salt-reduced variety you can do so here at Mealtime Building Block’s Chewsday Review) as they are packed with fibre, protein, iron, low in sugar, and you can count them towards your daily serve of vegetables. Not to mention that they are cheap and a cupboard staple so you can always have some on hand. So it’s a food that is definitely worth getting your kids onto early.

How early? Well, you could blitz them up into purees for your 7mo, but as a finger food I’d suggest at around 9mo when you bub can start to try and pick these slippery guys up. You might find it easiest for them to grab handfuls out of a little bowl. This is also an age where they are more likely to successfully chew them, rather than swallowing them whole (and potentially giving themselves a tummy ache).

The texture of baked beans is a ‘soft chew’ texture. They can be chewed without any teeth, and even just mashed up against the roof of the mouth using the tongue. This is where I get brand-specific in my review though. I find that the Heinz variety of beans is softer and easier to chew, and tends to leave less of the ‘skins’ when squashed. This means it’s a bit easier to chew and swallow for little learning mouths. Once kids have some teeth, and/or better chewing skills, it’s not as essential which brand as they really are all much of a muchness. But for whatever reason the Heinz beans seem to be just that bit more consistent in texture and easier to chew and swallow.

So they aren't really as much of a choking hazard as they may appear. Soft, slippery, and if swallowed whole are not so big that they would be likely to block the airway.

Are you a bean lover, or a bean hater? What about your kids? My youngest likes them straight from the tin, preferably cold from the fridge... can’t say I’m THAT fond of them, I think I’ll stick to hot beans on toast thanks!

And remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat.

Welcome to all the new followers! Great to have you along! For those of you who are new to Monday Bites, it’s a weekly review where I take a look at finger foods for your baby & toddler and how they help build eating skills like biting, chewing, and oral motor development.

A big contributor to fussy eating in younger children and babies can be that they find it tricky to physically eat the foods being offered to them. So they spit them out, gag, throw the food away or refuse to try it altogether. This can make them look picky and is SO frustrating as a parent, especially if you’ve gone to the effort to make them something to eat from scratch. There are many other reasons why babies and children can be picky with their eating, so if we can help their oral motor development stay on track then at least that’s one less contributing factor to why they might not eat what’s put in front of them.

This month I am reviewing foods that are not targeted at babies and children specifically. Last week it was Arnott’s Gingernut Biscuits (see the review here), and today I am looking at another potentially controversial food – popcorn! Specifically, Cobs Natural Popcorn (Lightly Salted, Slightly Sweet variety).

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 12+ mo

Shape: popcorn shaped!

Size: small choking hazard size

Texture: crunch & dissolve (similar to a melt in the mouth)

Popcorn is always on the list of ‘Do Not Give These Things to Small Children’ – it’s up there with whole peanuts, pen lids and batteries. Yet, it’s a favourite snack of so many little kids. So what’s the deal? When can you start giving your child popcorn?

It’s a tricky food to eat, from an oral motor perspective. BUT not all popcorn is the same. Homemade is a different texture to microwave packet popcorn, which is different again to foil packaged popcorn, which is different again from day-old popcorn (the last one being a proper choking hazard). Which is why I’ve chosen to specifically review Cobs Popcorn – Lightly Salter, Slightly Sweet variety.

This particular popcorn is particularly easy to eat. The sugar and salt content makes this popcorn much more of a ‘melt in the mouth’ texture, rather than chewy like many other kinds. I call it a 'crunch and dissolve' because it does require some chewing motions (not just sucking) to help it break down. So it’s a great choice for little ones who are still developing their chewing skills, especially if they've started to move on from the rapid melt in the mouth puffs and stix out there on the market.

Mind you, it’s the kind of food that should be considered a treat or to serve at a party because it’s not as healthy as plain homemade popcorn (you could always just give the kids a little bit and you could *ahem* do them a favour and finish the rest yourself...).

Have you tried popcorn with your little ones yet? Or have you held off, for fear of choking?

And remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat.

Taste Buds is really excited to announce a new service available for parents in the Perth metro area. It’s a range of PARENT WORKSHOPS designed for Mother’s Groups, Playgroups, Ante-natal Groups... anywhere there are parents of young children who want to learn practical strategies and information about their baby or child’s eating.

There are four different workshops available:

Starting Solids with Your BabyBaby Led Weaning – A Balanced ApproachFussy EatingBaby Talk (including Baby Sign)

Read more about the workshops here.

Workshops run for one hour and can be held at your Mother’s Group, Playgroup, or even in the comfort of your home. Invite up to 7 other parents along, and enjoy an hour of informative learning, fun activities, useful handouts, and practical strategies to use straight away!

To celebrate the launch of this new service, Taste Buds is giving away A FREE WORKSHOP! It’s easy to enter – just head over to the Taste Buds Facebook page, like the competition post and comment with which workshop you will choose if you are the winner.

Make sure you tag & share with your friends so that you can all enter, for more chances for your group to win! Competition closes 6:00pm WST Sunday 18th June 2017.

AND as a special launch offer, all booking reservations made in June will only cost $100 – that’s only $12.50 per parent! Get in touch via our Facebook page, or contact page, to make a booking.

Terms & Conditions:

*Competition runs from 6:00pm AWST Wednesday 14th June 2017 until 6:00pm AWST Sunday 18th June 2017.

*One (1) competition winner will be drawn at random once the competition has closed, and the winner will be announced via Taste Buds Facebook page, and will be notified via Facebook.

*Prize not transferrable to other Taste Buds services.

*Competition open to residents in the Perth Metro area only.

*Bookings for the promotional offer of $100 workshops must be made before 1st August, 2017. $100 Promotional offer workshops must be held before the end of 2017. A non-refundable deposit of $50 is required at time of booking to confirm the date and time reserved. Additional attendees (>8) can be negotiated at time of booking, if required.

To enter the competition to win, you must:

Like the Taste Buds Facebook competition giveaway post

AND

Leave a comment on that same post stating which workshop you would like to win

The post can be found here.

This giveaway is being run by Taste Buds only. The promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing information to Taste Buds, not to Facebook.

It’s good to be back! Last Monday was a public holiday in WA, so Monday Bites took a day off too. But here we are, it’s Monday again, and time for the next review of finger foods for your baby or toddler. Last month I focused on unprocessed foods, like watermelon,grapes, strawberries and banana. This month, I’ve decided to focus on foods that are not targeted at babies and children specifically. Before the concept of Baby Led Weaning took off, there were not many baby-specific finger foods available off the supermarket shelf. So what did babies eat before then?! Plenty! So this month I’ll review some foods that you’ll find elsewhere in the supermarket aisles. First up? Arnott’s Ginger Nut Biscuits.

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 6+mo

Shape: round

Size: standard biscuit size

Texture: hard mouthing/teething food (for babies), hard mechanical food (for older children and adults)

I’ve chosen the Arnott’s Ginger Nut to review because it’s in a texture category that we don’t often talk about. Hard Mouthing foods (sometimes called Teething Foods) are often forgotten about when people talk about introducing solids, but they play a really important role in helping babies learn how to bite and chew (part of their oral motor development). Hard Mouthing foods are exactly what they sound like – hard in texture, and designed to be gummed on (rather than actually eaten and swallowed). They provide the chance for your baby to get flavour, practice their bite action, and move their tongue in all different directions, without having to worry about actually chewing and swallowing lumps of food.

The Arnott’s Ginger Nuts are particularly good out of all the gingernuts on the shelf, because they are particularly hard. They also have quite a mild ginger flavour compared to some of the others, which is good for little learning mouths! They stay hard for quite a while, even with lots of dribbly gumming, and slowly degrade away (just be sure to monitor for any larger pieces that might soften and break off that you’ll need to scoop out of bub’s mouth).

Hard Mouthing foods are also a great option for grizzly teething babies, and for a moment’s peace and quiet while you enjoy your own biscuit dipped in a nice hot cup of tea!

And remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat.

I came across this cake recipe a while back in an old CWA cookbook – always a sure fire way of finding frugal but tasty recipes! I’ve since seen this cake recipe elsewhere by other names; Crazy Cake, Wacky Cake and Depression Cake (because legend has it that it originated during the Great Depression when fresh ingredients like butter were too expensive to use in baking).

Basically, it only needs pantry staples to create a really yummy moist chocolate cake. Yes, it’s true! No butter, no eggs, no milk. And you can even make it without a bowl (I haven’t tried that method but apparently you can mix it straight into the pan you’ll be baking it in).

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups plain flour

3 Tbspn cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

½ tsp fine salt

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla essence or extract

5 Tbspn vegetable / light flavoured oil

1 cup water

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C, and grease/line your cake tin (a 20cm square tin or thereabouts is a good size)In a bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt together.Make three ‘wells’ in the surface of the dry ingredients (make one of the wells bigger than the others). Put the vinegar in one well, the vanilla in another, and put the oil in the biggest well. Then pour the water over the top of it all. This will feel strange to do, but it’s important to follow these steps! It’s the science behind how the cake actually works!Mix it all together until smooth and well combined, and pour into your tinBake for about 30-35min, being careful not to overbake (check with a skewer or toothpick)

Once cooled, ice and eat! A really easy cake to make with kids, it's super allergy friendly (can even be made with GF flour) and a great one to whip up when you feel like cake but the fridge is bare.

This is the final week in my month long focus on baby finger foods that are fresh and unprocessed. And we’re finishing up with a bang – I’m going to review the child-favourite but parent feared GRAPE.

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 10-12mo chopped into quarters, chopped in half from 12+mo (depending on teeth & chewing skills)

Shape: perfectly elongated airway-plugging shape

Size: classic ‘this is a choking hazard’ size

Texture: soft crunch & chew

Grapes. This delicious little guys are adored by children across the globe. They are sweet, give a lovely crunch followed by a soft chew, and are fun to eat. But parents have often avoided this fruit, particularly in recent years as the awareness of grapes as a choking hazard has grown.

But is all the hype about grapes potentially killing your child just that? Hype?

Well, actually, no. A study published in 2008 looked at food-related incidents in children and the foods that were most likely to cause a fatal outcome from airway blockage (ie, choking causing death) were foods that were hard, round, and had a smooth ‘elastic’ skin on them. Pretty much just described a grape. And grapes were the third most common food to cause fatal choking (after hotdogs and hard sweets). I would also hazard a guess that with the popularity of cherry & grape tomatoes these days that they would now be on the list somewhere too. The smooth skin is important to note – this is why it’s a particularly fatal choking hazard because the outside of the food ‘grips’ against the sides of the airway and the size makes it fit much like a plug. So typical first aid for choking doesn’t always work. The most at-risk group of children who were most likely to choke to death were children under the age of three. Which makes sense as this is when children are still learning how to bite and chew.

You might have seen images like this one of a child with a grape stuck at the top of their airway doing the rounds on Facebook (this image via Finlee & Me). Makes you wince just looking at it!

When our parents were feeding us grapes when we were children, they would have usually peeled them & cut them up because the skins were thicker and harder for small children to chew, and you needed to get the seeds out. But grapes sold in the supermarket today have very thin skins and generally are seedless, so it’s easy to just serve them ‘as is’. But if you are serving them to small children, please cut them in half LENGTHWAYS and for babies please cut them into QUARTERS so that, if your child were to accidentally have one go down the wrong way and choke, a tight plug-like seal cannot be made between the skin of the grape and all of the airway.

No need to avoid grapes entirely, it would be a shame to not offer them because they are so delicious! Just take some simple precautions and the risk of any major problems will drop significantly. There isn’t any age recommended by doctors or health institutes about when is safe to stop cutting grapes up for kids... what do you think? What age did you / will you stop?

And remember, always supervise your baby when they are eating, no matter how easy you think the food might be to eat.

This is week 3 in my month long focus on baby finger foods that are fresh and unprocessed. There has been a proliferation of packaged baby finger foods over the last few years, and it’s easy to get caught up in buying them and offering them frequently – they are convenient, they market themselves as ‘health foods’, and they are easy to throw in your handbag when you’re heading out. But there’s so many great fresh and unprocessed foods out there that are wonderful for learning how to eat. Today we are reviewing the favourite fruit of almost every baby out there – the BANANA. But this can be a slippery sucker as a finger food... so what should we do?

Recommended age: not provided

Age you could probably offer this: 6-8+ mo

Shape: you can offer small chopped up pieces, ‘fingers’, or just a whole piece unchopped

Size: For the younger babies I like to recommend small ‘fingers’ of banana, and for the older babies I recommend offering whole pieces of banana

Texture: very soft bite & chew

Bananas are one of the first foods that many babies are offered, and they tend to remain a favourite for months and years to come. And no wonder! They are full of goodness, they are easy to mash, soft to chew and swallow, and come pre-packaged so you can take them easily with you. Take THAT, commercial pouches of baby food!

The only drawback is that banana can be a bit of a slippery slimy sucker when it’s chopped up. Not such a problem for older babies who can hold a whole piece of banana and take bites off by themselves. But the younger baby can’t hold a big piece, so they need it to be in smaller pieces so they can pick it up. But the slimy texture can make it a challenging sensory experience for many babies. And hard to pick up!

But here’s a neat trick! I really like to offer ‘fingers’ of banana. Stick-shaped finger foods are brilliant for teaching babies how to chew, and also encourage biting. And you can get three fingers out of a piece of banana by doing the following;

Slice off a piece of banana. Look at the sliced end. See how there are black dots (amongst three dark triangles) towards the middle? Place your thumb and finger on the outside of the banana so that they are lined up between the triangles. Now gently squeeze. You should start to see the banana separate into a triangular strip – pull gently away. Do the same for the other two strips that are left. And voila! Three lovely fingers of banana that are not slimy or slippery and are ready for little hands.

Here’s a video of what I mean (with bonus impatient 12 month old in the background demanding “Where’s my banana!”).